Chapter 67
Chapter 67: IIf it's the Professor……I, I'm Okay With It
"Heni?"
Viktor stood at the bedside, tossed the blanket in his hand carelessly onto the floor, and stared at Heni for a good while.
Only then did Heni stretch out a lazy yawn, rubbing her eyes with a groggy mm-mm.
She opened her slightly unfocused eyes, saw Viktor standing at the bedside, and felt not the slightest bit of tension.
Instead, she flashed Viktor a silly heh-heh-heh grin, squinted her eyes, climbed onto Viktor, hung off him like a koala, and went right back to sleep.
Viktor: "……"
Viktor felt his sanity beginning to crack.
Weija stood on the perch watching the 2 of them, tittering and chirping with laughter.
Sensing Viktor's cold, sharp gaze, Weija stifled the laughter, flapped its wings, and flew out.
Even as it left, it didn't forget to add:
"Well then, I'll leave you to your wonderful time."
After departing, it didn't forget to pull the door shut.
"……"
Though he had no idea what that insufferable crow was thinking about with its filthy little mind.
The current situation left Viktor almost afraid to move.
Heni was wearing nothing but a thin nightgown, exposing a wide expanse of pale, white skin—breathtaking, utterly alluring.
He tried to peel Heni off himself, but couldn't figure out where to put his hands.
This was a serious problem. The seductive aura unique to a Succubus drifted to Viktor's nostrils, tickling at him.
However composed Viktor was, he was still only human—beneath the provocation of that enticing scent, he breathed heavily, nearly losing his calm entirely.
He leaned his body down and lowered Heni, who was still clinging to him, back onto the bed.
From any outside perspective, the posture looked unmistakably like Viktor pressing down on top of Heni.
As though something uncensorable was about to happen the very next second.
But after doing all of this, Viktor simply parted his lips quietly and called out the girl's name.
"Heni."
As though the name carried some kind of magic, upon hearing someone call her name, Heni blinked in a daze.
This time, she truly woke up.
She opened her eyes—and immediately saw Viktor right in front of her.
"Huh!? Professor?"
Her face flushed red like a perfectly ripened apple, and she couldn't help but cry out:
"W-w-what is going on!"
She said all that, but showed absolutely no intention of releasing Viktor—perhaps because his sudden appearance had caught her so off guard that she forgot she was wrapped around him like an octopus.
Viktor's expression darkened dangerously. He spoke to Heni in a composed voice:
"This is my room."
"Ah!"
Heni whooshed and wrapped herself inside the blanket, shaking in the corner of the bed, with only her head peeking out.
Whether from fear or sheer flustered panic, she kept apologizing to Viktor over and over.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"
"I don't know why I fell asleep in your room either—I originally came to report something to you……"
She stole a glance at Viktor sitting in the chair, her cheeks burning red.
She had thought she was dreaming about Professor Viktor—turns out that just now hadn't been a dream at all……
Though her heart was flooded with a sense of happiness, Heni still felt a little afraid that Professor Viktor might be angry over this.
It certainly seemed like Professor Viktor's expression was not very good.
"So—you intended to come find me dressed like that?"
This time Heni was so startled she pulled her head entirely under the blanket, not daring to look at Viktor at all, just repeating "I'm sorry" over and over.
"I get a bit out of it when I wake up too early, so I……forgot to put my outer clothes on……"
Heni's voice grew smaller and smaller, until at last it buzzed like a mosquito drifting through the air—faint and nearly impossible to make out.
Listening to her explanation, Viktor's expression remained dark.
Succubi really were dangerous creatures.
He had barely managed to hold himself back just now.
Succubi possessed a unique charm and a sweet, intoxicating aura—that was the means they used to attract men.
Now that she had gained Magic Power, those qualities belonging to her Succubus nature were gradually surfacing.
Heni herself might be completely unaware that she had this kind of ability, but it was like instinct for a Succubus.
Even as an unconscious act, the seduction unique to a Succubus still affected Viktor.
Paired together with that thin nightgown of hers, it was enough to make a man lose his head entirely.
Viktor used 【1st-Tier Magic: Self-Suggestion】 3 consecutive times before he managed to calm himself down somewhat.
It wasn't as though he had never encountered a Succubus in the game—he had personally cut down several with his own hands.
But a Succubus casting Charm on a player in the game only applied a Debuff that reduced the player's damage by 50%, because players in the game couldn't even remove their underwear, let alone experience any other blood-boiling effects.
But the current Viktor was a human being with actual feelings.
He had to give Heni more than a few firm words—at the very least, he couldn't let her keep going on like this.
Otherwise, he might truly end up doing something against the girl's wishes.
Left with no better option, Viktor's words carried an edge of warning.
"Remember this—no one can endure you forever, Heni."
"If there's a next time, I can't guarantee I won't do something I shouldn't."
"……"
Heni, upon hearing this, suddenly poked her head back out and looked at Viktor with careful, uncertain eyes.
"……Really?"
Her voice seemed to carry just a hint of anticipation.
Viktor: "?"
Wait, that wasn't the right reaction.
"If it's the Professor……I, I'm okay with it……"
"……"
Heni looked at Viktor with a hint of shyness. The blanket slipped down, seemingly without her noticing, baring her fair, pale shoulder—her eyes soft and alluring.
Viktor closed his eyes.
There was absolutely no holding back at this point.
A girl who was pure, beautiful, and whose eyes held only you—she was genuinely impossible to refuse.
But……
He opened his eyes again, stood up, and his gaze returned to its absolute clarity.
"Heni."
"Mm……mm?"
Like a startled little deer, she snapped her head up to look at Viktor, seemingly flustered, yet carrying just a trace of expectation.
"At least for now—I won't accept you."
"……"
As those words fell, the light in Heni's eyes dimmed by several degrees.
Even though Heni had always known.
She had never once allowed herself any expectation.
She understood clearly how vast the distance between herself and the Professor was—so all she needed to do was quietly like him from afar.
Heni liked the Professor, but she would never let the Professor feel troubled because of her.
Even if it meant quietly liking him like this, liking him for a lifetime.
Even she herself would never realize it—
When had a Succubus ever managed to remain this faithfully devoted?
Wait a moment?
A spark of light returned to Heni's eyes.
Had Professor Viktor just said—
At least for now?
She raised her head, almost not daring to believe it, and looked toward Viktor—only to see the same indifferent composure as ever.
"You're too weak. As you are now, you can't even call yourself a Mage."
"At the very least, reach the point where you can barely keep up with me."
She stared at him blankly, but the next second, a pitch-black robe dropped onto her face, burying her completely.
Her vision was fully blocked. Heni tried to pull the robe aside, but all she heard was Viktor's voice:
"Get dressed properly. Don't forget you still have something to report to me."
After leaving those words behind, there was only the sound of a door opening—and then closing.
By the time Heni finally pushed the robe away, Viktor had long since left the room.
But happiness wove itself around her heart, and it felt as though her memory still held onto Viktor's words.
"Catch up to……Professor Viktor?"
As the most celebrated genius Mage, Viktor had already reached the 4th Tier at such a young age.
Could she actually do it……
Yet even as that happiness unraveled within her, the Magic Power inside her began surging upward like a tide.
That gradually strengthening Magic Power seemed to be proving something to Heni.
Catching up to Viktor was not an impossible thing.
Heni hugged the robe to herself and cheered herself on.
What Viktor didn't actually know was that Succubi had one more defining trait—one players would never discover.
That was: the man a Succubus set her sights on, she would never give up.
She would chase that target forever, seize him, and then refuse to let go even in death.
Until this very life of hers ran dry.
"I can definitely do it—definitely!"
***
When Viktor stepped out the door, the crow was dozing on the banister at the top of the staircase.
Viktor said nothing, walked over to Weija's side.
And grabbed it by the throat.
The crow snapped awake instantly, eyes bulging wide as though being choked to death!
"Let go, Viktor! Let go! Are you trying to suffocate me……gotcha~"
Weija flashed a teasing look and slipped free from Viktor's grip with ease.
It flew up to Viktor's shoulder, preening its feathers with a slightly disgruntled air—it claimed its feathers were very beautiful.
Fine. It's hard to understand a crow's sense of aesthetics.
Shortly after finishing with its feathers, Weija taunted Viktor in an utterly grating tone:
"What's wrong—our great Lord Viktor finished that quickly?"
"Even leaving out the time for undressing, that was only 5 minutes. Isn't that a bit……?"
Weija looked Viktor up and down, eyes full of mockery.
"Sometimes I really want to shred that beak of yours."
Viktor replied flatly, walking straight toward the Study.
Hearing this, Weija didn't close its beak—it laughed even more shamelessly, wings clutching its belly as it tittered away.
"No way—between being a beast and being worse than a beast, you actually chose the latter?"
"Are you not up to it?"
Viktor continued to ignore it, walking on without a care.
Weija grew more animated with every word, until it was heh-heh-ing gleefully.
"Hey, she's a Succubus, you know. There'll come a day you can't hold out."
"You can't really believe a Succubus will always……right?"
Viktor stopped walking, and looked down at Weija.
"Since she is Heni, she will only follow my orders."
"A Succubus too weak cannot bear the Magic Power of a 4th-Tier Mage. Indulging in the moment would only harm her."
"So she needs to grow stronger."
Weija was momentarily stunned. Then it understood what Viktor meant, and deep, cunning shrewdness surfaced in its eyes.
"You can even make use of the longing of those close to you. Should I call you cold and ruthless, or praise you for thinking several moves ahead?"
Viktor stopped engaging with it. Only Weija's voice continued to drift in his ear:
"I hope that by the time it comes to it, you haven't already folded me into your schemes as well."